Your favorite mandolin break [Archive]

f5loar

Dec-19-2007, 8:12pm

This thread could last a long time. There are so many to my mind that are really great. Monroe's classic breaks are too many to even start listing so here are 4 that stick out in my mind as being outstanding mandolin breaks:
"Riverboat Fantasy" by The Country Gentlemen with Rick Alread doing the honors on his Dean Clawson F5 in that line-up.
"Love of The Mountains" by Lost&Found with the late Dempsey Young on his famous Hutto F5 doing his usual tasteful break
"Dooley" by The Dillards with the great Dean Webb on the '56 Gibson F5. Classic Darlings!
"Listen To the Fallen Eagle" by Steve Stills and Manassas
with Chris Hillman cutting his '24 Virzi Loar F5.

re simmers

Dec-19-2007, 9:08pm

"Peace in The Valley" by Dempsey.
"Highway 40 Blues" by Ricky.
"Heartaches" by Doyle (it does have words)
"Every Humble Knee" by Ron Pennington (Lonesome Road Band)

Trey Young

Dec-19-2007, 9:51pm

don't know the exact version of it, a friend had transferred it from some record to cd, but it's Bill Monroe doing Little Maggie and his solo in it gets me everytime, can't listen to it just once...

cooper4205

Dec-19-2007, 9:54pm

I'd have to say a few of my favorite breaks off the top of my head are:

Monroe's breaks from "Blue Night" and "I Found a Hidin' Place";

Pee Wee Lambert's break on "The Lonesome River"

Jim Williams' turnarounds on "A Voice from on High"

JeffD

Dec-19-2007, 9:56pm

Andy Statman's breaks in Barbara in the Morning.

Caleb

Dec-19-2007, 10:41pm

Thile's mandolin work on NC's song "This Side" blows me away each time I hear it. #I honestly cannot understand how he gets his picking hand to move that fast. #

I also love Butch Baldassari's work on "Pass Me Not" from his Day in the Country CD. #The tremolo work on this tune is among the best I've heard. #

mandolirius

Dec-19-2007, 11:03pm

<Andy Statman's breaks in Barbara in the Morning.>

Oh yeah!

f5loar

Dec-19-2007, 11:10pm

"Head Over Heels In Love With You" by Knoxville Grass with Darryl Wolfe on a '24 Loar.
"Christmas Times A Comin'" Bill Monroe&Bluegrass Boys original 1951 version with Monroe on a '23 Loar.
Any song by Johnson Mtn. Boys that has a David McLaughlin mandolin break on it using his '23 Loar.
Any song by Country Gazette that had a Roland White mandolin break on it using his Randy Wood No. 2.
Any song by Boone Creek that had a Ricky Skaggs mandolin break on it using his '24 Loar
Any song by Homer&Jethro that had a Jethro Burns break on it using his 50's A-5 Custom.

bradeinhorn

Dec-19-2007, 11:11pm

nothing super fancy, but lately i've really been digging ricky's break on this clip:

old home place (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK0iMLvCfFM)

i especially love the trail out of the break.

also- i'd include the same link if this thread was titled "your favorite hairdo". Tony and JD are working the feathered look, Jerry just looks like a geek and Ricky is off in his own world looking like phillip seymour hoffman's character in boogie nights (scotty was it?).

Leevon DeCourley

Dec-19-2007, 11:29pm

I like the kick off to Gospel Plow that Mike Compton does.

Peter Hackman

Dec-20-2007, 3:51am

As the word "break", not "solo" is used, I assume you want Bluegrass examples (in jazz, a "break" is a short solo phrase with the accompaniment laying out).

Then perhaps my favorite would be John Duffey's solo on Blue Ridge Mountain
Home, in the key of Bb, on the last album the CG recorded with him as regular member.

But I do like this solo, too:

http://www.huthyfs.com/music/peach.mp3

(recorded about the same time, in fact), and the singing is really good, relaxed and smooth (no, not me).

Steve Cantrell

Dec-20-2007, 7:11am

Gospel Plow is great, but you can't get any better and mando-blusier than Compton's intro and break on "That's All Right" whether with NBB or David Long. There's also Monroe's scorching break on "White House Blues".

Mandomax

Dec-20-2007, 7:47am

Doyle w/JD-Blackjack off "Bluegrass Holiday"
Dave Peters-live at Ovations-Dark Eyes intro (but the whole song destroys me)

Chris Biorkman

Dec-20-2007, 8:03am

also- i'd include the same link if this thread was titled "your favorite hairdo". Tony and JD are working the feathered look, Jerry just looks like a geek and Ricky is off in his own world looking like phillip seymour hoffman's character in boogie nights (scotty was it?).
I can't get over how funny Jerry Douglas looks in that video. He looks like Stephen Hawking with long hair.

AlanN

Dec-20-2007, 8:03am

Duffey kick to "Two Little Boys"
Sam on "Reach"

many more

56 Gibson Hoss

Dec-20-2007, 8:09am

Sam Bush's monster break on Granny White Special (Mark O'Connor CD)

swampstomper

Dec-20-2007, 8:21am

Buzz "Me and the Jukebox" Starday version -- was there ever a break so close in feeling to the lyrics?
Of all the great Mon breaks I'll only list two: Out in the Cold World (sparse taken to the extreme) and both breaks on Working on a Building (gospel meets funk)

gschmidt

Dec-20-2007, 8:44am

Ronnie McCoury on "Vincent Black Lighting"

coletrickle

Dec-20-2007, 9:22am

Sam Bush on "Slipstream" off of Bela's "Drive" album. Love that break every time I hear it. It never gets old.

NoNickel

Dec-20-2007, 9:29am

Another for Gospel Plow. I like the Little Grascals better than NBB, but they are both great breaks.

56 Gibson Hoss

Dec-20-2007, 9:37am

Most any Dempsey Young break. His are so different from many other players as he has his own style.
RIP, Dempsy.

ALog

Dec-20-2007, 11:01am

I second that emotion on Ron Pennington "Every Humble Knee" and I'll add Roland White on "Bluebirds Singing for Me" off the Lester & Mac album and Chris Hillman, "Step On Out" from the Slippin Away CD. Good stuff!

metalmandolin

Dec-20-2007, 11:36am

Skaggs-Home Sweet Home Revisited
Monroe-Out In The Cold World
Steffey-Nowhere To Run?
Monroe- I'm Going Back To Old KY.
Doyle Lawson- On The Sea Of Life
Grisman- Things In Life (Don Stover)

nashvillebill

Dec-20-2007, 11:52am

Skaggs break in "Highway 40 Blues" is my favorite all-time mando solo.
Next in line would probably be Tim O'Brien's break on "Blue Night" from the first Hot Rize album.

nashvillebill

Dec-20-2007, 11:57am

Oooh- forgot one- again, it's Skaggs- the intro to "Walls of Time" from the "Ancient Tones" album. Can't help it- I'm a big Skaggs fan...

Bruce68

Dec-20-2007, 12:19pm

Alan Bibeys' work in the 'Gospel Medley' from BlueRidges' "Gettin' Ready" album is simply mind boggling. Also, Rick May of "5 for the Gospel" does a nifty little number on the 'Working in the Vineyards' track. It's slow as molasses and just as sweet. These by the way, are the songs that inspired me to take up the Mandolin in the first place.

Bruce

woodwizard

Dec-20-2007, 12:29pm

Any break John Reischman ever took that got recorded. He Can get that tone going for sure. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

jhbaylor

Dec-20-2007, 12:37pm

Another one I really like is Sharon Gilchrist break and backing on "Let The Harvest Go To Seed" off Rowan and Rice's Quartet Album.

I will add Mike Guggino of the Steep Canyon Rangers on the song "Hibriten Mountain" talking about the Mt. here in NC near Lenoir, NC. This is on the album Mr. Taylor's New Home. Great intro, backing and break on this one.

mandocrucian

Dec-20-2007, 1:45pm

There are a lot of great mando tracks, but the mandolin is so entrenched and/or integrated throughout the entire song, there may not actually be a "solo"..... It's not chop-chop for 2 minutes, with a 12-24 measure "break" squeezed in somewhere.

Ry Cooder - "Billy The Kid", "Goin' To Brownsville" etc
Jethro Tull - "A Christmas Song", "Fat Man"
Led Zep - "Going To California"
Richard Thompson - "Smiffey's Glass Eye", "Poor Little Beggar Girl"
Woods Band - "As I Roved Out"
Planxty - "West Coast of Clare", "The Blacksmith", "Pat Reilly", "The Well Below The Valley", etc. etc.
Martin Carthy - "The Maid And The Palmer", "The Ride In The Creel"
Rory Gallagher - "Goin' To My Hometown"

but, that's not what you were asking for. So what comes to mind that's a memorable "break"?

"Ramblin' Robin" (Andy Irvine) - Christy Moore # Prosperous
"I Want To Believe" (Eric Bazilian) - Sass Jordan # Rats
track #3 (David Lindley) - Nenes # Koza Dabasa #
"Angel Delight" (Dave Swarbrick) - Fairport Convention # #Angel Delight
"Spanish Johnny" (Ricky Skaggs) - Emmylou Harris #Evangeline
"Rambler" (Buzz Busby) - Leon Morris & Buzz Busby # #Honkytonk Bluegrass
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (Jimmy Gaudreau) - 2nd Generation
"Rain & Snow" (David Grisman) - Muleskinner

Now if it were guitar solos (acoustic or electric), listing 100 off the top of my head would be easy. Hendrix, SRV, QMS, Clapton, Peter Green, Clarence White, Thompson, Albert Lee, Cooder, Lindley, Allman, Garcia, Angus, BB, James Clavion Wilsey, Jerry Donahue, Kaukonen, Carthy, Wes, Django, ZZ Top, Eagles, Trower, Page, Jeff Beck, Santana and the list goes on and on and on.

Fiddle/Violin would be easier as well.

NH

Gwilada

Dec-20-2007, 6:15pm

I'll second that nomination for Sam on "Slipstream", that's just so hot. "Gospel Plow" is another big favorite. But the one that really goosed me lately was Thile's break on "Brakeman's Blues" from HTGAWFTG. I just kept playing it over and over! I'd love to see a transcription of that.

Scott

CollingsPicker

Dec-20-2007, 9:09pm

Road with no end mountian heart adam steffeys mando break very nice

Leevon DeCourley

Dec-20-2007, 9:52pm

Duffey also had a pretty cool break on the Seldom Scene's version of Workin on a Building

mandolirius

Dec-20-2007, 10:17pm

"Walk, Don't Run" - Doyle Lawson on Mike Auldridge's album "Blues & Bluegrass".
"Pale Rider" - Emory Lester (also notable for Slavek Hanzlik's guitar solo)
"Whitehouse Blues" - Bill somebody-or-other

Austin Koerner

Dec-20-2007, 11:49pm

Most any Dempsey Young break. His are so different from many other players as he has his own style.
RIP, Dempsy.
I totally agree

flatthead

Dec-20-2007, 11:52pm

I always liked Big Mon's kick off and break on "Letter From My Darling"....About a Tractor-Trailor load of angst.....

joncl

Dec-21-2007, 7:57am

I don't know if you consider it a break, probably more of an intro but...Adam Steffey on "Every time You Say Goodbye" when he was with Alison Krauss.

Brian Aldridge

Dec-21-2007, 8:09am

Not exactly an answer to how the question was posed, but, I just wanted to comment on the fact that whenever Ronnie McCoury take a solo on any song the band does, he plays the melody so well that you can actually tell what song he is playing, and he still gets plenty of flash in there too. I like that. As Lester "Roadhog" Moran would say, "Mighty fine, mighty fine. Purdy."

jaydee

Dec-21-2007, 8:26am

Andy Statman's crosspicking break on "Up In The Morning" from "Andy's Ramble". He waits until almost the end of the tune before you hear from him. When we gets going I always say to myself.. "Oh yeah, this is the guy that wrote the McReynolds book."

Scotti Adams

Dec-21-2007, 8:56am

..How 'bout Sammy on "Little Sadie" off of Rices Manzanita???

Don Stiernberg

Dec-21-2007, 9:23am

Here's a few more for your consideration...

Adam Steffey w/Allison Krauss "Every Time You Say Goodbye"

Sam Bush w/Allison Krauss "Never Got Off the Ground"

Sam Bush w/Newgrass Revival "With Care from Someone"

Doyle Lawson with Country Gentlemen "Little Bessie"

Bill Monroe w/ Bill Monroe "When You Are Lonely"

David Grisman w/Bonnie Raitt "Louise"

David Grisman w/ Grateful Dead "Ripple" and"Friend of the Devil"

David Grisman w/ Old and in the Way "Midnight Moonlight"

Tiny Moore w/ Merle Haggard "Old Fashioned Love, Roly Poly, Take Me Back to Tulsa..et al"

Tom Rozum w/ Laurie Lewis "Tall Pines", "When I get Home", et al..

Don Stiernberg w/ Robbie Fulks "Bluebirds Singing for Me"
...what can I say? It's not very often a live recording session is this much fun...almost as much fun as making these lists.

Johnny Gimble w/Merle Haggard or Asleep at the Wheel

Johnny Gimble w/Johnny Gimble "Under the X in Texas"

Jethro Burns w/ Homer and Jethro "Hut Sut Song", "Laura"

Jimmy Gaudreau w/Tony Rice"I've Waited as Long as I Can","On and On"

Mike Compton w/ Nashville Bluegrass Band "Every Humble Knee Must Bow", "No Hiding Place"et al..

Butch Baldassarri w/ Lonesome Standard Time"Lonesome For You", "I'm Lonesome Without You"

Andy Leftwich w/ Ricky Skaggs "Shady Grove"

Peter Hackman

Dec-21-2007, 9:31am

Here's a few more for your consideration...

#

Since Don brought up Tiny Moore, there's also his solo on Corrine, Corrina with Haggard.

Smiley Pockets

Dec-21-2007, 10:33am

I will have to put in a few Wake Frankfield breaks:
Little Birdie (out of this world!)
I'm Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail (Kitchen Tapes version and Good 'Ol Boys version)

Thank me!

--------------
'95 A5L
'83 Stiver
'06 Vessel
'26 Lyon & Healy
20s Gibson MB

Bing Cullen

Dec-21-2007, 10:36am

all of those mentioned are great, and all of Adam Steffy's breaks are pure genius, but seeing I have to pick just one it would have to be Bill Monroe's break in B on Close By. Its ably copied by Alan Bibey but Bill has the original. This break illustrates Monroes style, his feeling for melody and rhythm and his strong feeling for the blues. I never tire of listening to it.

tree

Dec-21-2007, 10:59am

Marty Stuart at the end of I Can See For Miles, and the entirety of Travel, Travel On (w/Del) and Mr. John Henry, Steel Drivin' Man (w/Earl).

Grisman on Rabbit In A Log (w/Doc and Ricky Skaggs).

Norman Blake on Whiskey Before Breakfast/Fiddlers Dram and Gilderoy/Little Beggarman.

Doyle on Train 45 (from School of Bluegrass).

Jim MacDaniel

Dec-21-2007, 11:39am

Since this thread is not in the BG forum, I'll assume you are OK with non-BG songs: Matt Mundy's superb mandolin playing (breaks and solos alike) throughout Widespread Panic's track Pickin' Up The Pieces, has to be my favorite mandolin work in a Rock-genre album, followed by several tracks with Jimmy Ryan on his solo albums and session work.

boatman

Dec-21-2007, 12:31pm

Tim O'Brian - "He Had a Long Chain On"

Timbofood

Dec-21-2007, 12:56pm

Roland- Kansas City Railroad Blues!
Sorry, missed the "vocal" line.
So, I have really been enjoying Larry Rice's work on anything, very tastful. Gone too soon.

evanreilly

Dec-21-2007, 1:12pm

Flatthead mentions Monroe's break on "Letter From My Darlin'" as being a great example of a Monroe mandolin break.
I have often felt that that break was one of the most 'Monrovian' breaks recorded.
Here is what Ralph Rinzler wrote about it: "The performance culminates in a mandolin break which is one of the finest examples of Monroe's creative genius applied to the instrument which he popularized".
'Nuff said!

Peter Hackman

Dec-21-2007, 1:23pm

lovethemf5s

Dec-21-2007, 1:24pm

Any break by Chris Hillman covering Scott Hambly's picking style.

coletrickle

Dec-21-2007, 1:27pm

Here's a few more for your consideration...

# ## Don Stiernberg w/ Robbie Fulks "Bluebirds Singing for Me"
...what can I say? It's not very often a live recording session is this much fun...almost as much fun as making these lists.

Heck yeah Don! I love that album and your break on that cut. Definetely off the "Nashville" radar. Robbie played our festival this fall and I was backstage talking to him about that recording and said I was a big fan of yours, to which he replied "me too"

ilovemyF9

Dec-21-2007, 1:37pm

I love the 3 breaks Marty Stuart does on "Rabbit in the Log", off The legend lives on- Bill Monroe DVD. Track 1 DVD 2. The last break is superb!

Bing Cullen

Dec-21-2007, 2:02pm

]
All three versions of Close By that I've heard are in A. B would be very high.
You are right! I stand corrected a slip of the memory I guess. yeah, B would be too high for me to sing anyway.

swampy

Dec-21-2007, 2:43pm

Bill Monroe - Darling Corey AWESOME
Ronnie McCoury - Working on a building, from a clip on You tube with Patty
Loveless and the rest of his family. Can't find it anymore though.

Steve Williams

Dec-22-2007, 8:09pm

Buzz Busby #
Heaven Is My Home (Webco)
Whose Red Wagon (Starday)

Steve Williams
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Glassweb

Dec-22-2007, 9:03pm

Here are 3 of my favorite Bill Monroe mandolin breaks -

1. Travelin' Down This Lonesome Road (the Flatt & Scruggs band)
2. Midnight on the Stormy Deep (the Rowan & Greene band)
3. Columbus Stockade Blues (the http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif band)

Peter Hackman

Dec-22-2007, 10:44pm

Here are 3 of my favorite Bill Monroe mandolin breaks -

1. Travelin' Down This Lonesome Road (the Flatt & Scruggs band)
The best known version is the one he recorded, with Mac Wiseman.

Glassweb

Dec-22-2007, 11:50pm

Yes, that's the one Peter... with Mac. Was that a different band from the Monroe band with Flatt & Scruggs?

Mike Bunting

Dec-23-2007, 1:02am

That would be the Bluegrass Boys V.2. The Columbia series 1945-49 has Mac singing that song in the last years, after Lester and Earl went on their own. Recorded 10/22/49, same day as Bluegrass Stomp.

Glassweb

Dec-23-2007, 2:27pm

Thanks Mike... I guess I was wrong about Lester and Earl...

hedding

Dec-23-2007, 2:34pm

i love that first little rhytmic emphasis he does on that f doublestop in travelin that lonesome road. I got that break figured out but can't quite get all the billism's.

that whole cd called "the early years" is really good.

Mike Bunting

Dec-23-2007, 2:46pm

Thanks Mike... I guess I was wrong about Lester and Earl...

Easy mistake, I just happened to have the CD handy. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Merry Christmas.

re simmers

Dec-23-2007, 8:53pm

Almost forgot....
"Thanks A Lot" by Alan Bibey w/Third Time Out. That is a super mandolin break with the triplets and then modulating at the end. That break really got my attention the first time I heard it on WAMU on my way home from work many years ago.

Josh_Akins

Dec-23-2007, 11:27pm

Bing Cullen

Dec-24-2007, 1:24am

Now if anyone can play like Monroe its Doyle Lawson. I think hs fillins, break and intro to Seek ye out the old path are outstanding.

tattiemando

Dec-24-2007, 2:16am

Ronnie McCoury's break on the song The Cold Hard Facts.

mrmando

Dec-24-2007, 2:31am

A friend of mine hired my band to play at a picnic in his back yard. After the gig some dude decided he should help us put away our stuff, even though none of us asked him to. He tried to take one of our speakers off the stand -- an operation he'd never attempted before -- and ended up dropping it on my Rigel. It wasn't a spectacular mandolin break but it's the only one I've ever had.

Brian T

Dec-24-2007, 7:05am

Tim O'Brien's intro and break on Colleen Malone is mighty tasty in my book. Love the way he cross picks.

bradeinhorn

Dec-24-2007, 7:18am

right now I'm stuck on these four, and tabs to either one or all three would be great, because I cannot find videos to watch them play it because, I'm pretty much tone-deaf.

We Shall Inherit- Doyle Lawson
On the Sea of Life- Doyle Lawson
My Love Will Not change- Del McCoury
High On A Mountain- Del McCoury
the tab to high on a mountain is on ronnie's dvd. as to my love will not change, that's a mandola. it's a pretty easy line to figure out though.